Refrigerating apparatus



' June 22, 1937. H. B. HULL I 2,084,494

REFR I G ERATI NG APPARATUS Filed Nov. 26, 1932 5 sheets sheet l win/M434 June 22, 1937. H, HULL 1 2,084,494

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 26, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sum: Hint June 22, 1937. H. B. HULL REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Fi led Nov. 26, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet Patented June 22, 1937 REFRIGERATING ArrAnA'rUs I Harry B. Hull, Dayton, Ohio; assignor, by memo assignments, to General Motors'Corporation. a

. corporation of Delaware 1 I A Application November 26, 1932, Serial No. 644,477

16 Claims. (CIQGil-"llfl This invention relates'to "refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to a refrigerator having a removable sealed compression refrigeration system' provided with a continuous oper- 5 ating compressor.

At the present time, substantially all of the compression type of household refrigerating systems are built alon'g'two general designs. In one desigrnthe compressor, condenser and the electric' driving'motor are placed in the machinery compartment beneath the food compartment.

type compressor through a belt and pulleys. The

system is controlled by starting and stopping the,

electric motor at suitable times' to provide the proper temperature within the food compa'rt:

ment.

Another general type of refrigerator is'that in which the machinery compartment is provided. above the foodcompartment. In this type, there pressor, as well as a condenser. These elements are mounted upon a removable partition which divides the machinery compartment from "the food compartment and on the underside or this removable partition there is mounted an evaporator which is conneetedi to the compressor and condenser above the'pa'rtition; This type of system is also controlled by starting'and'stopping the electric motor. In this type the top cover of the machinery compartment is readily remov able and the entire refrigerating system may be removed as a' whole by removing thepartltio'n upon which it is mounted.

While a cabinet so constructed permits easy removal of the refrigerating system, it is in some ways more costly to construct and has the fur;

ther disadvantage that it places the food compartment below the most convenient height.

45 Inasmuch as the system operates intermittently,

50 provide a refrigerator of low cost'having a re- J movable sealed" refrigerating system provided with a continuously operating compressor. which j is mounted beneath. the food co'mpartment so that the 'foodfcompartment is maintained at a 55 convenient height. v

is ordinarily provided what is called a sealedunit,..; which contains an electric motor and a com? It is another object oimyinvention to so construct the refrigerating system that it may be easily shipped and easily installed orremoved from the refrigerator cabinet without openingor breaking the sealon the refrigerating system. 5

It is another-object of my invention to provide an improved control means for the continuous operating refrigerating system which will mainf tain the food compartment at a proper temperature and also'provideadditional refrigerating ef- 10 feet when it is desired-tohfr ee'ze icev cubes or'; similar articles within the evaporator; i. v o 'rther objects and advantages of the present invention will, be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompany- 15 ing drawings, wherein a. preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown- In the drawingsi N I I Fig. 1 is a side vertical. sectional view of a. refrigerator embodying my invention; i

.Fig. 2Yis a sectional viewshowing a refrigcrating system packed in a box for shipment; Fig. 3 is a view showing the refrigeratingsys tem removed from the box;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top view of the refrig-. v

erating'system shown in Fig.3showing' a portion.

of one of the mountingbrackets, l I Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a portion of the cabinet construction, particularly madev so as to enable the refrigerating system to be readily installed and removed from the'cabinet;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, of the upper front portion ofthe box. The part in section is taken along line 6 -6 of Figure '7, and

Fig. 7 is a. sectional view along the line Tl-4' ,ofFig.6.

Referring to the drawings, magmatlarly to Fig. 1, there is'shown a refrigerator cabinet '20 having a food compartment 2| therein;

provided with insuiatedwalls'anda door opening 40) 22 provided with an insulatedflrefrifgerator door 5' 23. In order to cool the food compartment 2|, I provide an improved typeoflflrefrigerating sys A tern. This system has a flat plate type con-V denser Ztmounted 0n th I -W .45' frigerator cabinet. The condenser}! has, a pair;

of sheets of metal welded together "and, provided, I

with refrigerant ppassagesfltherebetweenl All flit,

rearwardly and then forwardly and provided with a fia'ngedjedge 2 6,, betterv shown in Fig. ,'.which is fastened to the re'arwall of the cabinet' The rearwardly' projecting, portion 25 during normal operationof the system is placed against a wall through a conduit to the header 32.

denser, while the rear wall or the cabinet and the condenser form another chimney to promote air circulation over the inner surface of the condenser soeas to cool and liquefy the refrigerant in the condenser 24.. I a a v I In order to supply liquid refrigerant to the evaporator, thebott'omof thecondenser is'connected by means of a flexible conduit 29 to a thermostatic expansion valve 30 mounted upon,

the evaporator3l which is fastened to the top of I V "the back of the-condenser 24 by suitable bolts! the food compartment 2| and located in the upper portion thereof. The evaporator 3| is of a peculiar:

sheet metal type which is generallyU-shaped. It I is provided with a header or distributing duct "32 which extends from front to rear at the .top of the evaporator upon one side and 'asecond header 33 which extends along the other side of the: evaporator.

The refrigerant, after' passing through the expansion valve 30, is conducted a header 32 is connected by refrigerant passages I NJ which extend down one side'of' the evaporator and up the other side to the header iii-upon the opposite side of the evaporator and the liquid refrigerant distributes itself into these"reirigerant passages and is conducted through the passages Q towa'rdtt'he' other header'*33. The liquid refrigerant is vaporized in the refrigerantpassages bef' fore it reaches the header 33 and therefore reaches the header 33 in vapor'form and is 'conducted to the compressor throughl a .flexible'return conduit 35. This removes. hjeatirorn the food compartrnent 2i and the ice tray shelves 36. The evaporator 3| is provided with 'ice tray.

shelves 36 which supportfthe ice trays 315' The ice tray shelves 36 have a'rear portion,

'upon'which is mounted 'athermostatic bulb which is connected by a tube to the valve'po'r- -tion of the thermostatic valve '30, The bulb' in this location is exposed to' airfwithin the food compartment 2! and is also subject to the influv .ence of the ice trays by being thermally "connected therewith through the; icetrayf shelv'es 36. In

this way,under normal conditions, the thermo- I static bulb 39 is almost 'wholly under thelnflu- 1 rence of the circulating air within the food compartment 2i: Howeverkwhen an ice tray is filled withwater and placed in' the evaporator, the'heat given oil by the water in'the ice tray ,will travel through" the ice tray shelf tothe;thermostatic bulb 39 which will become heated and act upon the valve 30 so as to cause morerefrigerant' toj" be introduced into the evaporatorso that the freezing, water within the ice tray will be hastened; j The refrigerant which vaporizes in f the evapo rator, iscollec'tedin, the small header J3 is returned through a flexible return" conduit 35 to a sealed motor-compressor unit 28 which is removably'suspendedjfrom thebottom'o f the food compartment 2i. The motor-compressor unit 28 contains acornpressorand' an electric: motorv which continuou'slydrivesthe compressor, all of which is enclosed within a sealed housing. The

compressor removes the vaporized refrigerant fromjthe flexible return conduit 35 and' forces the refrigerant into a flexible supply conduit which conducts i the compressed In order to facilitate installation, repair jend removal of the refrigerating system WithdiitjdiS-f turbing any: refrigerantjconnections' fthereof; a I

the motor compressor unit" by studs "and The refrigerant to provided bolt holesin the flanges of-thecondenser so that mounting bracketsfsuch as the v mounting brackets 4| and 42 maybe fastened to,

44, .These mounting brackets are connectedrto V v 46 which are also used in supporting the sealed motor-compressor unit 2! when it is at its nor.- mal position beneath the food compartment ii.

If desired, the compressor and the evaporator may be connecteddirectlytothe condenser without the intervention or? mounting brackets. l The refrigerant conduits are all of thin flexible tubing and maybe bent in any desired directionwitlr' out substantial injuryif. Byopening the rei'rigeratordoor' fl and byre-j moving the top ornamental cover o cat? m t as well as by removing; the; ornaments] nameplateia atthe front oif theoabinetFtheQ evaporator" 3| may also be remo ied from.

cabinet and fastened to similar mounting, brook ets 48 and}! which may thenbe oonnectedto the condenser ina manner'similai tothat 'ofhth'e I compressorby suitable bol tsl ll'ahd i].- The com 1 pressor and evaporator are both of comparatively a lightweight so that onejman can removefeach of i these "units yfromfthecabinetwithout v ance. After the evaporator and compressorthie removed [from the cabinet, the condenser .rnay then be removed from the {r ar wall oil the cabinet and can be placedin'a suitable packing lbon 52 shown in Fig. 2 for shipmenh tThe retrigersh ing system removed iro nt t lie cabinet}: shownfin Fig. 3. 1

In order to provide for-the;-

coir-Q V dui ts29 and 351e'xtendingto' andfroin theevapoj-y. rator 2i, there is a verticaldepression (see Figs; 5; 6 and 7) in the outerjsheet metal wan I! the cabinet 20f which providsfa vertical notch extending upwardlyfrorn the door opening 12.". The dooropenin .1 is surrounded by a door moulding 56 of 1a suitable ma erial having low heat conductivity swans-woods"? this mouldsing is provided with a notch 51 iioh connects? with the, verticalfinotchfll," A rubberifcovering 58 ;ls provided1for that portion ot the,. flexibie refrigerant'conduits 29 and I! which extends; throu'ghthe notches Blend '51,, Thiscovering is made of such a shape so'a's to properly fit and fill each of these notches. i i

- In order to conceal, thehpresenc ejof notches, thelower iang'le; portion oiflthefrubber J outer covering for the refrigerant conduits made of such a shape'that it presents a surface, continuous with the" exposed surface of the door -l f iw se; the-=verticalportioli 1. .65

this rubber covering is also provided withasurq face so as to'make itlpractically. continuous with the outer. surface of the refrigerator cabinet II.

In addition, however, an ornamental nameplate 59 is provided with ornamentaLuppierand lower extensions 60 and a 6 I whih i flt over. the vertical notch 55 and cover the-rubber[coverlngl of the refrigerant conduits and; The-ornamental nameplate 59 is fastenedto the frontjotcabinet by a P ir of screws 64. Inorder to cover the Dot- 1 tion of the refrigerant conduits 29 and 35 which extends over the top wall of the food compartment and to cover the projecting upper ends of the outer sheet metal walls, I'provide an ornamental top sheet metal cover 86 provided with a flange '6! which extends over the'outer vertical sheet metal walls andwhich extends over and overlaps the upper portion ofthe ornamental nameplate 59; The flange portion of. the door 23 also overlaps the lower'portion of ornamental nameplate 59. I e L I v In this way the, refrigerant conduits are concealed so thatthe general public will not be aware of the fact that the surface of the refrigerator has'been notched to provide a place for the connecting refrigerant conduits. By this type of construction the advantages of ,both types of refrigerating systems are retained and the disadvantages thereof are avoided. By merely removing the ornamentalnameplate and the ornamental top cover of the cabinet, theentire refrigerating system may be removedlwithout being disrupted.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes apreferred form.

it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow. j

What is claimed is as follows:

1. Refrigerating apparatus including a cabinet having an insulated food compartment therein, a

refrigerating system for cooling the food compartment including an evaporating means within the food compartment and arefrigerant liquefying means located outside the food compartment, said, liquefying means including a refrigerant compressor located beneath the food compartment, said food compartment having a door opening and a door therefor; refrigerant conduit means extending from the evaporating means to the door opening and from the door opening up over the front wall of the cabinet, rearwardlyover the top l of the food compartment and down the back of the food compartment to the compressor, and ornamental covering means extending over the exposed portions of the ref'rigerantconduit means for concealing the conduitmeans.

2. Refrigerating apparatus including an "insu-' lated cabinet containing a food compartment therein having a door opening anda do'ortherefor, a condenser fastened to the rear wall of the food compartment, a refrigerant evaporating means normally located in the food compartment; mounting means for temporarily supporting the refrigerant evaporating means upon the conden-' ser, a refrigerant compressor, and flexible refrigerant conduit means connecting the condenser, compressor and evaporating means. I

3. A refrigerator including a cabinet having a food compartment therein'provided with a door opening, a refrigerating system for cooling, the

food compartment including evaporating. means in the food compartment and refrigerant liquefying means located outside of i the food compartment and having compressor means mounted upon the cabinet below the food compartment, refrigerant conduit means extending from the evaporating means to the door opening, up from 'the door opening over the outer surface of the cabinet across the outer portion of the top of the food compartment, and down the back of the cabinet to the compressor means, an ornamental front cover for the exposed portion of the refrigerant conduit means at the front of the cabinet, a door for the door opening having a portion, when l 3 the door is closed, which overlaps a portion "of the ornamental cover, and an ornamental remov able top cover for the cabinet which conceals the refrigerant conduit means extending across the topof the food compartment and which has a flanged edge portion which overlaps a portionof the ornamental front cover.

4. A refrigerator including ,acabinet havinga food compartment therein provided with a door opening, arefrigerating system for cooling the food compartment including evaporating means in the food compartment and refrigerant liquefying means located outside .of, the food 'compart ment and having compressor means mounted upon the cabinet below the food compartment, said cabinet having an outwardly directed notch in the front upper partthereof, refrigerant conduit means extending from the evaporating means through the notch and over the top of the food compartment to the compressor means, ornamenq tai means associated with the refrigerant: con-, duit means for ornamenting the portion of the cabinet adjacent the refrigerant conduit means,

and an ornamental top cover mounted uponfthe' upper portion of the cabinet and concealing the conduit means extending across the stop of the food compartment.

5. Refrigerating apparatus including a cabinet having a food compartment therein surrounded ing a door opening and a door therefor, an evapofood compartment up over' the portionv of the outer surface of the cabinet above the dooropen conduit means extending" across the top wall, of .the food compartment.

- 6. Refrigerating apparatus including a cabinet having a food compartment therein surrounded by insulated walls and'outer sheet metal walls,

said food compartment having a door opening and a door therefor, an evaporating means within the food compartment, refrigerant liquefying means located outside the food compartment,

said outer sheet metal walls having an inwardly extending vertical depression therein forminga notch in the outer wall above the door'opening, refrigerant conduit means extending from the evaporating means onthe outer side of the sheet liquefying means, and covering means for con- "rating means within the food compartment, re-" I frigerant liquefying means located outside the food compartment; refrigerant conduit means extending from the evaporating means out of the" metal walls through said notch to the refrigerant cealing said notch and the refrigerant conduit means extending therethrough.

"I. 'A packaging or shipping assembly including a condenser in the form of an oblong fiat rigid member having operative fiexible'pipe connecq tions with a motor-compressor unit and anevaporator, said motor-compressor unit and evaporator being detachably secured to said condenser and the flexible pipe connections being so bent as to make the whole into a compact form capable of being readily inserted into a packing case.

8. Refrigerating apparatus including a cabinet having a food compartment therein surrounded by insulated walls, said foodcompartment hav- 3 means extending over theexposedportion ofthe ment, refrigerant conduit means extending from the evaporating means out through the door opening and over a portion ofthe outer sheet metal wall of thei food compartment to the re- 5 frigerant liquefying means, and covering means for concealing a portionpf the conduit means extending over the outer wall of the 'food compartment. I

9. Refrigerating apparatus including a cabinet having an insulated food. compartment therein, a refrigerating system for coolin'g's'aid food compartment including an evaporating means; within the food compartment and'a refrigerantiiquefp ing means located outsidethe foodcompartment having a portion at the rear of the cabinet, 'rethe food compartment and a refrigerant liquefying means located outside the food compartment and having a portion beneath the. food compartment, refrigerant-conduit meansextending from the'evaporating means uptover the front 'wall of the ;cabinet thence rearwardly across the .top.

wall ofthe cabinet and. down' the back of'the cabinet to. th'e. portion of the liquefying means beneath the food compartment-and covering refrigerant conduit means for'concealing the conduit means;

11; A packaging inga condenser-in the form-ofa generally oblong -fiatrigid member having operative flexible pipe connections with amotor-compressorunit and an evaporator, said evaporator; being detachablyisecured to said condenser and the fiexiblepipeconnections between the evaporator on Onehandand the motor-compressor unit and the condenser; on

the other hand being. bent so as to make the; whole @intd-a compact form capable of-bein readily. inserted into a packing case; a

12. A packaging or shipping assembly includinga: condenser, .a motor-compressor unit and an evaporator, said motor-compressor unit having operative flexible; pipe connections with; the condenser and the evaporator, said motor-calm. pressor unit-being detachably secured to said condenser and the flexible pipe connections connected to theniotor-compressor unitbeingbent so as to make thewhcle. into arcompact form capable of. being readilyiinserted into a packing no case.

a condenser; a 'rnotor-compressor unit and'an evaporator, said evaporator having operativeflexible pipe connections-with, the motor-compressor unit and the co'ndenser, said'evaporator being detachably secured to said-condenser and the or shipping assembly includ- 13, A packaging or shipping assemblvincluding flexible pipe connections extending from; the evaporator (being bentso as to make the whole into a compact formicapableof being readily.,.:insertedinto apacking casaiit 1.4. Rede min apnmmmdudm: a are net having a foodfconipartmentgtherein surrounded by insulated walls. i said ,raoa compartment having a door openingjand a 'door th'erei'or,

said cabinet having 8 metal exterior wan disposed over the insulated, wall adjacent said dooropenin'g, a cooling element 'of a closed iiuid circulating system within said food compartment; I mean o ted side otmid twi o mr ent for circulating, at; cooiingfiiuid medium to; and

from said coolins'e'lein entfsaid closed system including conduit nieans" extending l between said cooling element and said circulating means and havinga portionthereof lying over said finished metal exterior. cabinet walladjacent the. door opening, of said food compartment; and means covering saidportion of said'conduit means and cooperating'withsaid outer cabinet wail to form a part ofthe exteriorflnish of'saidcabinet. F 7

i5. Refrigerating apparatus including 7 a cabi .netl having a. food commitment therein surerounded "by "insulated wallsgsaid" food compartment having a door; opening anda door therefor, said cabinet having a finished metal exterior wall disposed over the insulatedwall adjacent said dooropenin'g, a coolingelenie'nt of a closed fluid circulating, system" within} said food compartment, meansj located outside '01, said food j compartment for circulating a coolingfifiuid me-. dlum to and. from? said cooling, element, 1 said. closed system. including conduit means. extend-.1.

ing awn said cooling element and said circlilating means and havinga: portitm thereof lying. rover said iinished metal exterior cabinet' walliad jacentthe door-.obenirig'bfsaid food. commits;

ment, andornament'al coveringsaidpnfss tion of said conduit ineansand being removably of the exteriorflnish or said cabinet. .j

16. Refrigerating. apparatusincluding a cabig net having a 'food compartment therein. rwj' rounded by insulated. walls, said food "compute: ment having a door opening and adopt the ef r said cabinet havinga finished metal exterior wall disposed over v-the insulated {wail'liadiacent said door opening, a; cooling eleinent of a closed fluid circulating systemlwithin said mod. compartment, means'located outside of said food compartment.

for circulating a cooling flu! medium,.to.and

from said cooling element. a.- lepre'sfsionformed in the exterior cabinetwall adjacent said; food compartment and above thedoor opening there-.

to, said closed system including conduit means extending between said cooling element: and circulating means and having a portion thereof disposed in said depression mnd an prnamental covering means m concealing said depression;

and the conduit'portion disposed therein-andco operating with'said outer cabinet wall to form: a part of the exterior flnish thereof. i 

